The present disclosure relates generally to information handling systems, and more particularly to the automation of the discovery of services provided by information handling systems over a network to allow communication with those services.
As the value and use of information continues to increase, individuals and businesses seek additional ways to process and store information. One option is an information handling system (IHS). An IHS generally processes, compiles, stores, and/or communicates information or data for business, personal, or other purposes. Because technology and information handling needs and requirements may vary between different applications, IHSs may also vary regarding what information is handled, how the information is handled, how much information is processed, stored, or communicated, and how quickly and efficiently the information may be processed, stored, or communicated. The variations in IHSs allow for IHSs to be general or configured for a specific user or specific use such as financial transaction processing, airline reservations, enterprise data storage, or global communications. In addition, IHSs may include a variety of hardware and software components that may be configured to process, store, and communicate information and may include one or more computer systems, data storage systems, and networking systems.
Conventionally, when target IHSs are deployed in a network, they must be provisioned with a default configuration (e.g., an Internet Protocol (IP) address and initial management credentials) and become known to the appropriate management IHS before they can be fully managed. While the processes for doing so differs across different types of target IHSs and/or management IHSs, all require manual operations by a network administrator that are complex and error-prone.
For example, the deployment of a switch IHS in a network typically includes first connecting the switch IHS to the network. The network administrator must then configure the IP address of the switch IHS or make sure that the Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol (DHCP) server is set up to supply the switch IHS with an IP address, depending on the switch default configuration. The network administrator must also configure the default initial configuration which, at a minimum, will include providing an initial security credential for Simple Network Management Protocol (SNMP) and Common Language Infrastructure (CLI) so that the switch IHS may be remotely managed. In some situations, the network administrator may set up the DHCP response to include a pointer to a Trivial File Transfer Protocol (TFTP) server that will have the default initial configuration file for the switch IHS, which must have the appropriate credential for initial access, requiring the network administrator to manually configure the DHCP server to respond to the management Media Access Control (MAC) address of the switch IHS so that the correct configuration file may be referenced. The network administrator may now either manually add the switch IHS to the management system (adding the switch IP address and management credential) or may request that the management system ‘discover’ the switch IHS (either periodically or using a manual trigger process), which is typically accomplished by scanning the IP address range for a new device responding to the management protocol and predefined management credential.
In another example, the deployment of a server IHS in a network typically includes connecting the server IHS to the network. A client running on a remote access controller coupled to the server IHS may use a number of different methods to attempt to locate a provisioning service running within the network. One method includes using the DHCP response with option 43 containing the IP address of the provisioning service, which requires that the network administrator properly configure the DHCP server to respond to the server IHS with the IP address of the provisioning service (to make sure such a response is only provided to this type of server IHS, as other devices make use of DHCP option 43 in different ways.) Another method includes using a well-known host name for the provisioning service to allow the client to attempt to use the Domain Name System (DNS) to resolve a well-known host name for the provisioning service, which requires that the network administrator configure the DNS server(s) with the appropriate host name and may also involve the use of a DNS load balancer to distribute the client request to the appropriate provisioning service. Yet another method involves the network administrator manually configuring the provisioning service as part of the onboarding process. Once the client finds the provisioning service, the client and provisioning service will perform a mutual exchange of security certificate and the provisioning service will then configure the client with its actual management credential. The management system may then use the provisioning service to retrieve information about the server IHS and access the management credential required to manage the server IHS.
While the processes above for adding new devices to a network and management domain are different, and other processes may be used, they all share common requirements: the newly added device must be discovered or added to the network and the management system must have the appropriate security credential to manage the device. Accomplishing this initial ‘bootstrap’ of the devices requires manual network administrator actions and setup and maintenance by the network administrator of external services. As networks become relatively large, this process becomes complex and error prone.
Accordingly, it would be desirable to provide an improved network system.